does herceptin work?

[eileen]

i'm trying to get my doctors to give me herceptin for stage IIIa localized breast cancer, her-2+ postive, ER positive, but i cannot get it unless i get on clinical trial for which i do not qualify. should i be pushing for chemo treatment with the herceptin. Is it working for anyone?
i know that some people do not respond to herceptin. I had lumpectomy 11/5 and am
still conrfused about which chemo treatment to get and i'm really worried about waiting much longer. I was offered dose dense EC with taxol as my treatment without herceptin.
Don't know what to do. I feel that the clock is ticking.

[anne]

Hello,

I saw your dx and went through the similiar dx with my mom except for being IIb. My husband and I consulted 3 diff. oncologists and their consensus was to get the most aggresive treatment that you can in early stage BC. That means Adriamycin or Epirubicin, Cytoxan, Taxol or Taxotere on a dose dense schedule if you can handle it. And the benefits of Herceptin now is the only question. I could not find any statistics to share with you. But my opinion is that it might cut down the rate of recurrence by another 30-50%. No one knows for sure yet and believe me I have been looking for results on these trials for the past year. If anyone knows for sure, I would be trilled to know. Regardless, you are lucky in the sense that you have an ER+ tumor and can have Arimidex for 5 years afterward. Please ask your doctor to reconsider Herceptin. I have read some people even got their insurance to pay for it. All the best and try to find another doctor if you disagree with your current one.
XOXO
Anne

[eileen]

thanks, anne. i am trying to find another dr. here in new york who will consider giving me
the herceptin without a trial. it's been very frustrating fighting with these bureaucratic institutions.

[Rozebud]

We don't know what the results will be for early stage bc with herceptin b/c the trials aren't over yet, but MD Anderson based on nothing but preliminary results given in a neoadjuvent setting, is giving herceptin to ALL early stage bc's who are her2+. This is because they had such dramatic results with it. As they are one of the top places to go, I think that's very notable. Perhaps share this with your onc:

http://www.news-medical.net/view_article.asp?id=2246

[Guest]

Herceptin works for alot of people. See if you can get on it with a good chemo regimin because you have advanced breast cancer. You need all the ammunition you can get.

[michele u]

Eileen,
Why didn't you qualify for the herceptin trials? The only requirement I thought was to be her2 pos?

[eileen]

herceptin is only given on trials for local breast cancer and i don't qualify for the trial because i took taxol 7 years ago for ovarian cancer and that disqualified me.
i'm very upset about this because there's a chance the herceptin will help me. my doctor
told me that another trial with herceptin will be coming up in january which i would
qualify for but i really don't want to wait that long to get treatment. i'm freaking out
over this situation.

[Guest]

eileen,

Please look into Sloane-Kettering in NYC. There is also a Her-2 vaccine trial in Winber, PA for people who don't get Herceptin. Look up on Google: HER 2 vaccine trials, there are lots of places that will give it to you.

[Jan]

I am getting weekly herceptin off label. I am stage IIa. I didn't qualify for a trial becuase I've had chemo before. I have a great onc. and he wanted to use it. I didn't have any problem with insurance coverage, but Minnesota is good for insurance. The question for me is how long to keep doing it! I did the usual AC+taxol dose dense before the herceptin. Hope this info is helpful.